What is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes?
The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes was initially made as a novel, written by Suzanne Collins. This book is a prequel to her world-famous Hunger Games series. Film production for an adaptation began almost immediately after the book was published. Both the book and film follow Coriolanus Snow, one of the main antagonists of the original trilogy. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a villain origin story for President Snow. Snow was very different before Katniss’s story began. In the first Hunger Games book, Snow was seen as a ruthless dictator, as for in the Ballad of Songbird and Snakes, he was more empathetic.
How is the Film Doing in Theaters?
On its opening weekend, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes earned a total of $98 million. Though this is quite a large amount of money, it is surprisingly low considering how long-awaited this movie has been and especially considering that the first Hunger Games film earned a total of $152 million during its opening weekend back in 2012.
What Did Critics Think?
Perhaps one of the reasons that The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes did not do as well as many expected is that it did not get very good reviews from critics. Though the cast is filled with celebrities and household names, critics only gave the film a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. Oddly enough, the audience rating was 91%. Why? Most likely, it is because many fans of the series picked up on little things and Easter Eggs (small, fun, interesting, and hidden things within a movie that reference the original books or films that only someone who has read or seen them would understand) from the book series. For critics, however, this isn’t really enough to rate a movie as being more than good. Many liked the actors and filmmaking but the critics weren’t big fans – this likely turned away people who weren’t sure about going to see the film in theaters.
Rise in Popularity
A big question is why did this movie rise in popularity? Well The Ballad of the Songbirds and the Snakes is a prequel to the series The Hunger Games. The previous movies from the series have been a hit, so it’s no wonder many people would be thrilled for the prequel. The book also had 3.9/5 on Goodreads, so the book was very popular and loved by many. So to answer the question, the movie rose in popularity thanks to the love for the books and movies in the past.
Cites
https://screenrant.com/hunger-games-ballad-songbirds-snakes-rotten-tomatoes-most-divisive/#:~:text=The%20star%2Dstudded%20cast%2C%20which,rushed%20ending%20and%20bloated%20runtime.
https://screenrant.com/hunger-games-ballad-songbirds-snakes-box-office-opening-bomb/#ballad-of-songbirds-amp-snakes-had-the-hunger-games-39-worst-reviews
http://www.goodreads.com
https://time.com/6336296/ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes-hunger-games-what-to-know/
